Students walk out at Middle Park High School in support of Parkland shooting victims

From 10 a.m. to 10:17 a.m. Wednesday, over 100 students at Middle Park High School walked out of their classes to publicly express support for the victims of the Parkland, Fla. school shooting. They stood in front of the school one minute for each of the 17 victims.

The walkout follows a nationwide event happening today where students from schools across the country have planned walkouts or vigils in support of the victims of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

While Middle Park’s walkout was benign in nature, others around the nation were more political, signaling students’ deep desire for stricter gun laws in the United States.

“(The students) have made it clear that it is not a protest, but rather a remembrance of all victims of school violence,” East Grand Superintendent Frank Reeves told Sky-Hi News Wednesday morning.

Middle Park High School senior Gigi Newcomer-Neeson led the event in Granby, where she decried the level of gun violence already seen on school grounds so far this year. She called upon her fellow students to stand together in solidarity on the issue of gun violence.

Newcomer-Neeson read a list of those killed in the Parkland shooting while the crowd observed a brief moment of silence after each name. A list of all school-related shootings so far in 2018 was also read, including a brief explanation of what occurred at each event.

Newcomer-Neeson told her fellow students that, while they may feel like they have no power to change things, they were making an impact just by being present at the events like the one held this morning.

"We are all here together," Newcomer-Neeson said. "This is not about protest, this is about solidarity."